Airplanes
by gensoryuu
Summary: Sometimes Orihime could be the hero too. Redone.


** Hey, so I realized this might be just a tad abrupt and lacking in certain areas. As I have seen this, I've decided to change it a bit and fill it out a little more. **

…**...**

He had refused at first, her human whims may be entertaining, but her safety was at risk. Now, the reason behind most things she did eluded him on his best days, but this? She had to go to another side of Japan for a simple visit, as if they could not be made to come to them. However, that wasn't the part that worried him. She wanted to take a flying contraption called an airplane. A large, tube of flying metal that she said went at speeds that even he could admire! To make things worse, after the fiasco involving an X-ray machine, and a very traumatized Doctor, she wouldn't allow him to ride this "Airplane" with her. He was to take Garganta there.

So obviously he wasn't very happy about it, and it had shown in his mannerisms all week. He was, as the woman called it, pouting. He called it tactical silence and mental warfare. He was having pangs that he had come to associate with the woman putting herself in danger. The same pain he felt when she insisted on fighting alongside the Shinigami trash she called her friends. It gripped him tighter and tighter the closer the day came. It was suffocating.

**...**

At present, they were now racing through the terminal. She was attempting convince him she'd be fine and he was trying to explain that this whole little plan of hers was pointless and unnecessary. He was, big surprise, getting absolutely no where with the stubborn woman. When Orihime made her mind up, she made it up, no amount of logic would make her turn away from the obvious hazard. Ulquiorra knew this better than most, her friends had tried to turn her away from himself, and she had resisted all attempts. She never left, never changed, and was still too damn kind for her own good.

He knew he could use her weakness against her. The kindness she held with her could easily be used and manipulated into a weapon against her. He simply couldn't bring himself to do so. He had become weak to that simple smile, that ever present happiness and wonder, and so, every time he opened his mouth to voice the trickery, he snapped his jaw right back into place. She trusted him; no matter how desperate he was to keep her away from that metal deathtrap, he just couldn't do it. He just couldn't, not even if she would be safer for it. She was rubbing off on him, moronic humans…

"Ulquiorra."

She brought him out of his slightly frantic cursing of every human ever born. He tilted his head down to peer down at her. His gaze narrowed in concentration. His lips set in a firm line. Every now and then his jaw-line ticked indicating the rising tremulous emotion showing within his stormy emerald eyes. He was deeply upset.

"We're here; my flight is 133, okay? You'll see me in an hour, I'll be fine."

She started walking as if to leave, and instantly a tight grip on her forearm jolted her to a stop. Ulquiorra had quickly halted all movement, but the touch on her arm, though firm, was gentle. She smiled as she got a devious idea; turning on her heel she gave him a quick peck on his lips. His stunned grip loosened, and she took off like a shot towards the loading ramp, disappearing just as the dazed male returned to reality.

'_She, she cheated!' _

For the logical man, uncertainty was sure becoming commonplace in the tiny woman's presence. His woman was gone on that giant metal bird and already on her way to Sukasuma, no real reason to just stand there… Not that there was a lot to do without Orihime around. He was far too on edge to read... He knew he could have just had used Garganta, but it would have not only freaked out everyone on board, it would have upset Orihime. He didn't like seeing her upset, much less being the focus of her ire or sadness.

Far from completely compliant, he decided he would be Sukasuma in an hour exactly, and if she was not there he would be retrieving her. With this in mind, he created a Garganta in the middle of the airport waiting area and vanished inside, startled yells and questioning exclamations following in his wake. Arriving inside Orihime's home he walked to the living room, turned on the thing Orihime called the Television (which just looked like a Garganta Broadcast to him.) and began to watch the flashing pictures, waiting for time to pass.

...

As she sat in her grubby, poorly built, and slightly stained airline seat her adrenaline started pumping and a happy smile crept onto her face. She giggled, she was finally on a plane, and to top it off she had tricked her persistent boyfriend! She was ecstatic, she may not have the best seat… or the window seat, but she was happy all the same. The kid next her, around eight or nine, looked up at the wildly smiling woman.

"Miss, have you been on an airplane before?"

"Nope!" "Have you?"

"No, I usually take other methods of travel, but my, ah, older sister thought I should experience it at least once…"

"Really?" "Are you and her from around here?"

"Not really, we travel a lot but she has a house in this town…"

"What part of town does she live in, I may know her?"

"She lives almost at the edge of town, east of here, near the start of the forest."

"Nope, I live to the north, near the middle of town."

"..."

"Oh!" "I forgot to ask your name!"

The boy raised his head in a placid manner that reminded her of Ulquiorra and turned to her. His calm eyes looked too old for such a young child. The ice-blue eyes bore into hers. Then it was gone with a blink, a look of gentle happiness replacing it. Orihime drew back slightly, confused.

"Ryo."

"I'm Orihime, nice to meet you!"

"Pleased to meet you, Orihime."

"Say Ryo, are you scared riding by yourself?"

The boy seemed slightly offended. His nose bunched up slightly and his brow pulled down.

"No, I am more than able to handle this."

"Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend you! Of course you can handle it! It's just... a little terrifying, you know?"

Her eyes narrowed in contemplation. Normally happy-go-lucky eyes darkened in thought.

"Being so close to the gods may be a tad overwhelming, but its... exhilarating."

Her smile returned with his words, filling the space with her aura.

"Ya, I guess it is."

The plane was in the air when they finally came out of their conversation. The nearby window showed clouds and slight sunlight as the plane shifted to a leisurely glide. She took time to look around, a large well-built man around his forties sat across the row from her, an empty seat next to him. A few seat ahead of him sat young man in his middle to late twenties. It was a small plane, only two seats on each side and one long row leading all the way though the curtains of first class to the cockpit, she also noticed there were very few people in her class, more empty seats than passengers. She observed that very few people seemed to be in groups, a good number shattered about and remaining nearly silent.

'_Guess_ _they just aren't very talkative.'_

"Are you wondering about the silence?"

"Ah, yes!"

"There's been a string of rapes and murders going on the area we are headed to, that's actually one of the reasons my older sister, myself, and the rest of the group are headed there."

"Is that why there's not many groups?"

"Nobody's really willing to risk their families."

"You're family investigates them, don't they?"

"In a way, I suppose that's part of it."

"What do you do then?"

"That's a secret."

"Aww… really, I-"

A horrible screeching noise echoed though the plane, interrupting them. An air flight attendant walking past her to the back of the plane looked up startled and fearful. That's when the ceiling detached itself from the rest of the plane. The attendant screamed as she was pulled into the air by the powerful suction. Orihime then did the only thing that made sense to her at the time. She grabbed the lady's arm as she flew by and promptly pulled her own from its socket, but as searing pain raced down her arm the girl managed to get a grip on her. Tears streamed down her face, her eyes plead with Orihime's own as her mouth stayed open in a silent scream.

That's when two things happened, the man across the row leapt into action and the heavy metal cart began to come loose from its place behind them. The man grasped the woman's other arm and yanked her into the seat next to him in one full motion. The cart fully came lose as she was pulled in and out of its way. Orihime wasn't as lucky, the sharp cart corner slammed into her shoulder as it was sucked up and out of the plane.

She gasped in pain but kept focused, clearing her head as much as she could. The air masks had now been released from the ceiling and she quickly pulled it on breathing deeply. A loud snap next to her made her immediately react. Ryo's seat belt had broken, she quickly lifted the armrest and warped her one working arm around him as he slammed his arms down, hands clasping the sides of his seat. She tucked him against her, curling him to her side as well as she could. They stayed like that until they felt the plane's wheels bouncing on the asphalt and the wind slowing to a gentle breeze.

The emergency doors were opened as the inflatable ramps poured out. They had landed.

…...

Ulquiorra was still watching the useless uninteresting box. The primped up newscaster was annoying and seemed to be made of plastic. His thoughts had drifted away a while ago. Bright urgent red lights flashed across the screen, stealing back his attention. Cool green eyes flicked to the screen and widened as they showed one of the mechanical flying machines on it. He turned up the volume, listening intently.

"Well, folks it seems we've just got word that flight 133 to Sukasuma has sent an alert signal, the signal was received around fifteen minutes ago along the end of the plane's flight path. So far no deaths have been reported and the plane is said to be making an emergency landing in its original destination."

The overly cheery man kept babbling about how utterly horrible this was and to keep an eye on this story, but he was talking to no one. Ulquiorra was already gone.

…...

The traumatized woman was the first one out. She was being carried by the same man who had saved her in the end. Still unable to walk, she he made him stop in front of her and seemed to lack the words she needed. Looking up at her, she began to tear up at the injuries on the younger girl's body, she nodded at her franticly.

"Th-thank you!"

Orihime gave a heartwarming smile as she held her dislocated arm to her chest protectively.

"It was nothing, you would have done the same."

The older woman cried harder and motioned for the man to continue, they slid down the ramp easily and Orihime, being Orihime, tried to let everyone else get off first. The people, most being the panicked, unthinking creatures humans can be when scared, just went on by, eager to get off what they viewed as unsafe. Ryo, however, stopped when his turn came and calmly pushed her to ride down with him. Orihime slid uncomfortably down the ramp with Ryo at her side, carefully avoiding her left arm.

A small odd looking family greeted them at the end, a worried looking woman taking both of them into a careful hug.

"Ryo, I'm not going to make you do that ever again, little one."

She released just him before holding the startled girl at a length, one hand on her unhurt shoulder, and speaking with a warm smile.

"I know you helped him, I can see it in his eyes." She paused. "You have a caring aura about you, young one."

"How-"

"Don't ask, little one, I won't tell."

The tall silver-haired woman smiled again, before turning to a bouncing, ecstatically cheering brown haired man and a pleasantly calm white haired one. The hyperactive one screamed his thanks to her while the placid one nodded respectfully.

"I'm sorry for keeping you; go get your wounds mended."

"Ah, goodbye then, Ryo, I hope to see you again."

"Goodbye, and thank you, Orihime."

She walked towards the ambulances, well, more like limped, and almost made it before she was forced onto an unexpected detour. A tall man in a police uniform had taken hold of her arm and was pulling her in the opposite direction. She tugged against him as hard as she could before just going limp, her fight lesson by the pounding in her head and arm. She was suddenly so tired. The man wasn't fazed by her slight struggle, still walking at a brisk, even pace.

"Let go!"

"Shut up, you should listen to your elders, little her. You're being detained, come on..."

_'Why am I so tired? Maybe I should listen...'_

She was terrified, her mind was going fuzzy and she felt as though something foreign was guiding her thoughts. This man wasn't normal. She looked back for her newly acquired friends, and spotted a very angry, golden-eyed woman. Good, maybe her new friend could get him away, because it was quickly becoming harder to even think of leaving. The now threatening looking women took a purposeful step forward, and stopped. A grin pushed onto her face that, had they not just meet, would have chilled her to the bone.

It was then that a familiar pale hand clamped down on the offending appendage latched on to her arm. The cracking of bone could be heard as Ulquiorra crushed the disgusting extremity. The man let go with a cry of pain, a trailing wail that ended in a feral growl at the tall dark-haired man in front of him. Orihime stumbled behind her savior quickly, wanting to be farther from the man who was clouding her thoughts. She just hoped it wouldn't affect the seething Arrancar.

Before her worries were tested, a sharply dressed man with a beaming smile came up behind the now hissing man and stuck him in the back of the head with a glittering object, a gun she realized quickly. The man collapsed and the stranger looked up from the unconscious form to peer at them through shaggy cafe locks.

"I owe Sakura, most certainly, this time."

After he dragged off the man with a cheerful wave, Orihime found she could take no more, leaning heavily on Ulquiorra. The man heeded her silent request with a small frown at her state. He swept her up and walked off, safe in the knowledge that she was safe.

And he was never leaving her alone again.

…**...**

** This has been heavily edited. I changed small bits of the plot to make more sense and the dialogue was changed almost completely. Hopeful the changes were welcome. Please feel free to give me some feedback, it is always welcome. **


End file.
